[asia-apec 21] LABOUR LEADER ARRESTED

[ALARM]

ABOUT ALARM

ALARM (APEC Labour Rights Monitor) is a joint project of different labour groups, trade
unions, migrant and women workers organisations and other support groups in countries covered
by APEC.  It was first agreed in principle during the Trade and Workers' Human Rights
meeting(Kyoto, November 1995)  and subsequently endorsed by the participating groups of the
NGO Forum on APEC which met shortly after. The PP21 meeting (2-7 March 1996, Kathmandu)
and the EPZ Women Workers' Conference(25-30 March 1996, Hong Kong) also expressed
support to this project.  ALARM is based in Hong Kong.  Muchtar Pakpahan, labour leader and 
ex-political prisoner is the chairman of ALARM's Advisory Group.

INDONESIAN LABOUR LEADER ARRESTED FOR THE SECOND TIME

Ex-political prisoner and labour leader Muchtar Pakpahan was arrested and detained for the
secondtime by the Indonesian authorities following the spate of demonstrations in Jakarta these
past coupleof weeks.

Muchtar is the leader of Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia (Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union),
the independent trade union which the government is refusing to recognise. Only  one official
trade union,SPSI, is recognised and sanctioned by the government.

The arbitrary arrest was made on the night of July 29, after political unrest broke out in Jakarta
on the 27th which led to street demonstrations and riots. Reports said this recent political unrest
is theworst to hit the country in 20 years. It was precipitated by the fight between factions of the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), where the military engineered the ouster of supporters of
opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri.

No charges have been filed against Pakpahan. He was detained simply on suspicion of helping
incite unrest, and of being linked with the newly outlawed People's Democratic Party (PDP),
whose leader,Budiman Sukjatmiko, is on the run.

SBSI claims a membership of almost half a million workers, with 97 branches across the country.

 In April 1994, some 30,000 workers staged a protest rally in Medan following the death of a Deli
Factory worker-organiser, Ruslli, and the dismissal of 399 workers from the same factory. SBSI
helped organise these actions. It turned into one of the worst street protests in Medan, and
Muchtar was arrested and convicted in November for inciting unrest. His conviction was
announced a few days before the 1994 APEC Summit in Indonesia. 

He served 9 months in jail and was released in August 1995 due to some technicalities. After his
release, all activities of the union have been closely monitored by the military. 

They have been routinely charged of being communists because "their organisational structure and
style of work is the same" as that of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Any trade
union
activity that is done without the military's presence can be branded as an act of subverssion.

Muchtar is only one among many SBSI and independent labour organisers and activists who have
been harassed, made jobless, detained, imprisoned or killed by the Indonesian military and
government.

SBSI and other human rights and labour support groups in Indonesia and Asia have protested
against
the government's use of the recent unrest as an excuse for another communist witchhunt and
crackdown on dissent.

Please send solidarity letters to Indonesian workers and help demand for the release of Muchtar
and
other political prisoners. Send copies of your letters to the ALARM Secretariat.

Please send protest letters against the government repression and violation of basic human and
workers' rights to the Indonesian consulate in your country. Send copies of your protest letters
to
Pres. Suharto, and the Presidents of the 18 APEC countries.


In Solidarity

Bien Molina Jnr.
ALARM Researcher

Rex Varona
Project Coordinator